DEMOCRATS TACKLE NEW IOWA PROJECT

Some of Iowa’s best Democratic thinkers have gathered hundreds of volunteers to answer the question of whether or not Iowa can turn blue.

WORDS BY DARBY HOLROYD | ILLUSTRATION BY LILA JOHNSON

2020 was a tough year for Iowa Democrats. It began with a massive caucus mishap. It ended with Republicans flipping six seats in the statehouse and two of the state’s four seats in the U.S. House. Donald Trump won by slightly less than 10% of the vote. After reviewing the election results, rural counties continued to trend deeply red while urban counties mostly stayed blue, but did see an increase in votes for Republicans. Politico’s election data ultimately revealed a deep divide between rural and urban counties, demonstrating that there was little organizing done by Democrats in rural areas. KCCI showed that Trump outperformed his 2016 numbers in almost every single rural county.

With this in mind, it was clear to the Iowa Democratic Party that their losses were heavy in rural areas, especially when comparing them to who was elected in urban areas, such as Polk County (the only blue U.S. House seat from Iowa). As painful as it was for loyal Democrats to read the statistics and look at electoral maps, it forces the party to delve deeper into what went wrong and what they can do to ensure a victory in the next election cycle. In order to ensure that this would not happen again, the New Iowa Project was formed.

According to the Iowa Census, less than 10% of Iowans are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Over 11% of Iowans are at or below the poverty line. It also states that around 59% of the state population is between the ages of 18 and 65, the biggest chunk of unreliable voters. This information is crucial when studying what the New Iowa Project is set to tackle, for people

of color are typically disenfranchised and disengaged voters due to discrimination and the Democratic Party taking their votes for granted. Secondly, people at or below poverty are far less likely to vote, meaning that they are also typically left out of politics.

The New Iowa Project is modeled off of the work that Stacey Abrams and her team did in Georgia with the registration of over 800,000 new voters that caused the state to flip blue. When analyzing what Abrams did for Georgia, it cannot go without thanks to Black women. They are the foundation of the modernday Democratic Party—they fought for people not only to have the access to vote, but to use it.

What Abrams was able to accomplish was built on top of a decade of work, not just one presidential election cycle. Abrams’ main message was this: the power of the vote. Georgia was flipped because of the sentiment around the state that emphasized the importance of each and every vote, including marginalized voices that had always been left out of politics and voter engagement. Stacey Abrams created the blueprint for engaging voters.

From this, Sean Bagniewski (chair of Polk County Democrats) and Judy Downs (executive director of Polk County Democrats) created the New Iowa Project. Their goal is to register around 120,000 voters, the same amount they predict they lost over the past 10 or so years. A problem that Iowa faces is the lack of participation in bottom-of-ticket races, such as city council, and a complete focus on the caucus, a problem that this team believes they can fix.

““We as a state can WE AS A STATE CAN get very caught up in GET VERY CAUGHT UP IN the caucus cycle, and it’s really appealing THE CAUCUS CYCLE, AND to be focused on

IT’S REALLY APPEALING the caucus system,

TO BE FOCUSED ON [but] we lose sight of

THE CAUCUS SYSTEM, long-term permanent investment locally,” [BUT] WE LOSE SIGHT OF Downs said. LONG-TERM PERMANENT This has been a

INVESTMENT LOCALLY problem ever since Iowa got the caucus,

JUDY DOWNS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF POLK COUNTY DEMOCRATS and Democrats are suffering because of it. This is incredibly harmful for Democrats because they have to focus on the lower-ticket candidates in order to flip the state blue, not just the ones at the top of the ticket.

One month after introducing this program, Bagniewski and Downs already had over 400 Iowans interested in participating. The New Iowa Project is entirely volunteer-led and split into five committees. According to their Facebook page, the five committees are: Communications and Voter Education, Community Outreach, Data and Benchmarking, Inactive and “ Independent Outreach, and Registration and Turnout. “Essentially, our goal is to register voters, provide local support for groups that want to register OUR GOAL IS TO REGISTER VOTERS, PROVIDE LOCAL SUPPORT new voters, youth FOR GROUPS THAT voters, voters of WANT TO REGISTER NEW color, former felons, and non-party VOTERS, YOUTH VOTERS, voters,” Downs said. VOTERS OF COLOR,

The work that FORMER FELONS, AND was done in Georgia NON-PARTY VOTERS is reflected through these plans, for JUDY DOWNS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF POLK COUNTY DEMOCRATS they’re turning their focus outside of their secure voter base in order to increase political involvement. The numbers also indicate the excitement that Iowa Democrats have in this project and offer hope for the work that will be done.

As of right now, the New Iowa Project is slightly focused on Polk County, which can be attributed to it being both where the project was founded as well as the strongest Democratic base in Iowa. Nonetheless, the two are hopeful to expand into all 99 counties.

“We’re going to be helping the other county parties and the other local groups put together their absentee mailers,” Bagniewski said.

Shifting the focus to local races, as well as increasing voter registration, is the central tactic of the New Iowa Project. With this plan, they have already begun voter registration drives in nearby counties as of early March 2021 and have held monthly meetings since January.

The New Iowa Project is laying a strong foundation for the upheaval of party dynamics here in Iowa. The registration of over 120,000 voters could be the difference between Iowa staying red and Iowa turning blue. This grassroots organizing will alter Iowa Democratic politics and has the potential to bring forward voters that would have never imagined themselves in a voting booth, or filling in the box next to the letter “D.” The New Iowa Project has the ability to offer a voice to Iowans who have never felt heard in state politics.

In order to get involved, check out their Facebook page called “New Iowa Project.” The impact that young folks, especially students at Drake University, have on the community is inexplicable.

Bagniewski said, “We need your help. A lot of that is having your voices in those meetings and in those committees.”